I am running for office because, in 2007, my great-aunt had the audacity to ask me “why not you?"

In 2007, while visiting my great-aunt in the hospital, (the same hospital where I donated my kidney to her exactly five years before) we sparked a conversation about the upcoming presidential election and who we could count on to advocate for change. Little did I know, she would remind me of my life’s purpose by simply asking, “why not you?” You see, I grew up in Youngstown, Ohio in a single parent household where my mother, a college dropout, was addicted to drugs. My father, a Vietnam Veteran, never went to college and suffered from addiction as well. My mother and I transitioned frequently, living with friends and relatives. With each move, I questioned why this was my life? And although my mother and father no longer lived the damaging lifestyle they once did, as a young adult, I spent a number of years trying to find an answer for or explanation of my past. From the day I last heard my aunt speak, I have spent my life trying to make a difference by serving others and giving people a voice—the voice, I initially thought, I did not have. I have served my country in the U.S. Navy, advocated on behalf of children and families and worked with organizations providing services to our most vulnerable populations.